Elder abuse multidisciplinary teams and networks: Understanding national intervention approaches

Multidisciplinary teams are a cornerstone intervention in the elder abuse field, but the prevalence and effectiveness of different MDT models in the U.S remains unknown. In this study, we surveyed 508 elder abuse-related professionals across the country on their knowledge of existing elder abuse MDTs and networks. Preliminary findings show that elder abuse MDTs focus most on financial exploitation (90.8% of teams), followed by physical abuse (83.58%) and neglect by other (81.59%). The most common perceived barrier to MDTs was funding/resources (35.8% of teams), followed by time commitment (30.56%) and agency engagement (22.84%). As the first study to identify the prevalence and perceptions of different elder abuse MDT models, this research can be used to inform policy makers on effective elder abuse interventions and identify gaps to be filled through policy action.